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Holtz, ECU agree to tentative terms of proposed contract

Aug 26, 2008

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina Head Football Coach Skip Holtz, who has led the Pirates to two bowl appearances and consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the 1999 and 2000 campaigns, has agreed to tentative terms of a proposed contract that would help secure his position through the 2013 season, the school announced Tuesday afternoon.

Specific details of the proposed six-year contract, which also includes a modified incentive and bonus structure, cannot be released until final approval by the East Carolina University Board of Trustees.

Holtz became East Carolina's 19th head football coach in the school's history on Dec. 3, 2004 and improved a program that had just three wins in a 25-game period in two-plus seasons prior to his arrival. School-record attendance increases at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium have also been achieved under Holtz' watch.

“I’m honored and excited to have the opportunity to be the head football coach at East Carolina,” Holtz said. “I am certainly proud of the improvement we have made as a program over the last three years and I’m grateful to the confidence and commitment that our administrative leadership continues to have in our progress. I strongly believe we all share the common goal of ECU successfully competing at college football’s highest level.”

“The proposed agreement recognizes and rewards Coach Holtz for all he and his family have done for ECU Athletics and the entire community,” Holland said. “It is our intention to encourage them to stay with us a long, long time.”

Holtz, who worked on coaching staffs that have captured seven major bowl titles in eight appearances since 1987, officially ended a six-year position on the South Carolina offensive staff when he moved to Greenville.